Across the table in a classroom at St Saviour’s Primary School in Herne Hill, south London, is strewn a tottering Himalaya of toys, dolls, model cars, packs of pens, children’s clothes, nappies; enough stuff to stock a decent-sized toy shop. Still the pupils bring more, emptying carrier bags of stationery, board games, most of them new and box-fresh, until the place resembles the inside of Santa’s Grotto on Christmas Eve.

All of these items have been collected by pupils at the school over the past few months. And all of them will shortly be heading off to refugee camps in Lebanon, currently overwhelmed with those fleeing the civil war in Syria. “St Saviour’s Saving Syrian Children” is the eye-catching title of a campaign in which everyone at the school is involved.

The idea to collect toys and money and other stuff for the refugees came not from parents or teachers, but from the pupils themselves. To be specific, from Matilda, a six-year-old in Year One, and a member of the school council. She came up with the plan last September.

“We’re just seeing if we can make them happy again,” she explains. Lucas, a Year Six pupil, adds: “We’d seen the pictures on the news and we wanted to do something to help.”

Once the idea was hatched, and once it had been decided upon, every pupil in the school took home a letter explaining the campaign and asking for fundraising ideas. They came in a flood. There was an Easter raffle (prizes included a Nando’s voucher and tickets to the Ritzy cinema in Brixton), an ice-lolly sale, and a guess-the-name-of-the-toy-monkey competition (he was called Felix).

The older children in Years Five and Six were given sponsor sheets, encouraging them to come up with fundraising ideas. Three of them are soon to undertake a triathlon, each taking on the different disciplines: one running around the nearby park, another cycling, the third doing lengths of the local pool.

The aim is for the school as a whole to raise £2,000 to go with the toys. At the time of writing, the children have gathered £1,100 (including a donation from the Telegraph, deftly extracted by Rufus, a tin-rattling Year Three pupil).

At St Saviour’s such activity is an integral part of the curriculum. It is all coordinated by the school council, which is made up of representatives from each year group. To sit in on a council meeting is a rare privilege. These are the citizens of tomorrow: caring, thoughtful, community-minded. And full of ideas. Not just for fundraising, but improving the lot of those attending the school themselves. They have just enjoyed a food preparation session with a chef, learning how to make salad – a healthy alternative, presumably, to one of the raffle prizes.

Coordinated by Flora Vidal, a member of the St Saviour’s staff, the school council meets once a week, sitting down together to discuss ideas, writing down their decisions and plans. Eager and keen, the children are filled with the urge to change the world for the better. And they are not short of ambition. “It wasn’t a mini lolly sale,” Rufus explains of one of the school’s fundraising efforts. “It was a big lolly sale.”

According to Beau Fadahunsi, of the Team London Young Ambassadors’ Programme, Mayor Boris Johnson’s initiative to encourage youthful volunteering across the capital, St Saviour’s is a template for what she hopes will be adopted in every school in the city. Even in an era when educationalists are under pressure to become ever more focused on academic disciplines, she believes there is huge benefit in introducing the idea of giving up time to help others at an early stage in a child’s life.

“Volunteering like this boosts children’s confidence and feeds into the academic side,” she says. “It gives a sense of purpose and it teaches transferable skills, everything from organisation, through communication to marketing. These are tangible academic things, taken out of the academic context and put into a practical context. It also makes them more aware of the world around them.”

If nothing else, she adds, it will assist all of those involved as they progress through their education. “Schools with active citizens really help in terms of UCAS personal statements and employability,” she says. “This gives a pupil something to distinguish them.”

Not that the young citizens gathered around the St Saviour’s council table are yet thinking of CV development. They are more concerned with coming up with fundraising ideas for their Syria campaign. Like the monthly film club, in which a family movie is shown in the school hall, with lots of attendant money-making activity like popcorn and drinks sales.

“On Monday I had two Year Five children give me £47 to put towards the Syria appeal,” says Ms Vidal. “They made cakes at home and sold them at their church on Sunday. It’s absolutely inspiring that children want to help other children around the world and take the initiative to do something about it. We also had children donating their Christmas and birthday money.”

It is no wonder Ms Vidal spends so much of her time smiling. Not that the project is without its pitfalls. The biggest headache has been how to get all the stuff that has been collected to those in need, to ensure that the pupils’ creative energy and goodwill is not dissipated.

Importing goods like those spread across the table of this London primary into Syria, where they might make a difference, is not the easiest logistical task. But through a contact of a parent at the school, a charity was found which agreed to ship the collection to Lebanon; it was due to be dispatched the day after the Telegraph’s visit. The money collected, meanwhile, is to be donated to a Syrian orphans’ fund.

It was because of initiatives like this that the pupils of St Saviour’s were invited by the mayor to County Hall for the launch of the Team London campaign. According to Ms Fadahunsi, they “stole the show”.

Which is no surprise as the enthusiasm, thoughtfulness and energy of these young volunteers is a tonic that could cheer the most jaded of cynics.

“We’re just hoping to make better lives,” says Jacob, a Year Six pupil.